Just picture yourself sitting at the right side of a decades old career. Be honest with yourself: as you survey all you have achieved and consider your next steps, what kind of emotions course through you? It’s safe to say that many of us would feel contentment, a sort of deep satiation. You’ve earned the trust and respect of your peers and the adoration of several generations of fans; where do you find the fuel to move forward? Honestly, I have no idea but Ihsahn appears to have found a secret store of whatever substance keeps musicians going well past would anyone else would consider the peak of their career and into heights.

Sometimes while you’re waiting over two years for a band to release some new music, they come along and release it with another band who you’ve also been waiting for music from, but for five whole years. What do you do with this new material? You listen to it a bunch…

For the uninitiated, Poney’s unique brand of rock fury brings together uncommon company in ways that always manage to reconcile themselves. Intricate arrangements are balanced with tight songwriting, hooks weasel their way into both the gnarliest and most spacious of places, and the intersection of sludge, post-hardcore, and pop becomes…